新奇事件簿 丰田公司为节省成本关闭电梯

The car company Toyota is shutting down two elevators at its global headquarters to save money. The world's largest automaker said on Thursday it will shut down two of eight elevators at its main Tokyo office. This is to save electricity and to cut down on the costs of operating the building. One reason for this new move is the strengthening Japanese yen¹. The yen has become much stronger since the UK voted to leave the EU on June the 23rd. One dollar bought nearly 120 yen in January; now it buys just above 100. A stronger yen means Toyota cars sold overseas are more expensive and profits go down. Toyota's profit for the year ending March 2016 was a record 2.31 trillion yen, which is around 23 billion dollars.

汽车制造商丰田总部为节省开支关闭两台电梯。周四，全球最大汽车制造商称将关闭总部大楼八台电梯中的两台。此举旨在节省电费，节省大楼运行成本。日元坚挺是此举的原因之一。自6月23日英国公投以来，日元愈发坚挺。今年1月，一美元相当于120日元；而如今却刚刚超过100。日元坚挺意味着丰田向海外出售的价格会更高，导致利益下滑。截止到2016年3月，丰田今年的利润额为达到创纪录的2.31万亿日元，约230亿美元。

A Toyota spokeswoman said the company decided² to shut down the elevators several weeks ago because of the rising yen. The company is also adjusting the temperature of air conditioners to save money. The spokeswoman said Toyota took similar cost-cutting measures after the financial crisis that happened in September 2008. That also made the yen strengthen against the dollar. The spokeswoman said: "These policies are not new." She added: "The key objective for the stoppage of elevators specifically is to raise awareness³ amongst employees, and to remind them of the commitment that Toyota has towards the idea of increasing competitiveness through staying lean and reducing waste."

据丰田发言人表示，由于日元汇率不断上涨，公司已于数周前做出了这一决定。丰田还升高了冷气温度。发言人称2008年9月金融危机时，丰田也采取了类似削减成本的做法。日元对美元汇率也有所上涨。发言人称：“这一政策并不是最新出台的。”她还指出：“暂停电梯的主要目的是提高员工意识，提醒他们丰田的目标是通过精简和削减浪费来提高竞争力。”

1 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。